Lothair, by Benjamin Disraeli

Chapter 2

Lothair was the little boy whom the duchess remembered. He was a posthumous child, and soon lost a
devoted mother. His only relation was one of his two guardians, a Scotch noble — a Presbyterian and a Whig. This uncle
was a widower with some children, but they were girls, and, though Lothair was attached to them, too young to be his
companions. Their father was a keen, hard man, honorable and just but with no softness of heart or manner. He guarded
with precise knowledge and with unceasing vigilance over Lothair’s vast inheritance, which was in many counties and in
more than one kingdom; but he educated him in a Highland home, and when he had reached boyhood thought fit to send him
to the High School of Edinburgh. Lothair passed a monotonous, if not a dull, life; but he found occasional solace in
the scenes of a wild and beautiful nature, and delight in all the sports of the field and forest, in which he was early
initiated and completely indulged. Although an Englishman, he was fifteen before he revisited his country, and then his
glimpses of England were brief, and to him scarcely satisfactory. He was hurried sometimes to vast domains, which he
heard were his own; and sometimes whisked to the huge metropolis, where he was shown St. Paul’s and the British–Museum.
These visits left a vague impression of bustle without kindness and exhaustion without excitement; and he was glad to
get back to his glens, to the moor and the mountain-streams.

His father, in the selection of his guardians, had not contemplated this system of education. While he secured by
the appointment of his brother-in-law, the most competent and trustworthy steward of his son’s fortune, he had depended
on another for that influence which should mould the character, guide the opinions, and form the tastes of his child.
The other guardian was a clergyman, his father’s private tutor and heart-friend; scarcely his parent’s senior, but
exercising over him irresistible influence, for he was a man of shining talents and abounding knowledge, brilliant and
profound. But unhappily, shortly after Lothair became an orphan, this distinguished man seceded from the Anglican
communion, and entered the Church of Rome. From this moment there was war between the guardians. The uncle endeavored
to drive his colleague from the trust: in this he failed, for the priest would not renounce his office. The Scotch
noble succeeded, however, in making it a fruitless one: he thwarted every suggestion that emanated from the obnoxious
quarter; and, indeed, the secret reason of the almost constant residence of Lothair in Scotland, and of his harsh
education, was the fear of his relative, that the moment he crossed the border he might, by some mysterious process,
fall under the influence that his guardian so much dreaded and detested.

There was however, a limit to these severe precautions, even before Lothair should reach his majority. His father
had expressed in his will that his son should be educated at the University of Oxford, and at the same college of which
he had been a member. His uncle was of opinion he complied with the spirit of this instruction by sending Lothair to
the University of Edinburgh, which would give the last tonic to his moral system; and then commenced a celebrated
chancery-suit, instituted by the Roman Catholic guardian, in order to enforce a literal compliance with the educational
condition of the will. The uncle looked upon this movement as a popish plot, and had recourse to every available
allegation and argument to baffle it: but ultimately in vain. With every precaution to secure his Protestant
principles, and to guard against the influence, or even personal interference of his Roman Catholic guardian, the
lord-chancellor decided that Lothair should be sent to Christchurch.

Here Lothair, who had never been favored with a companion of his own age and station, soon found a congenial one in
the heir of Brentham. Inseparable in pastime, not dissociated even in study, sympathizing companionship soon ripened
into fervent friendship. They lived so much together that the idea of separation became not only painful but
impossible; and, when vacation arrived, and Brentham was to be visited by its future lord, what more natural than that
it should be arranged that Lothair should be a visitor to his domain?